Housecleaning and opportunities

In getting rid of some unneeded stuff this week, I think I stumbled on a chance to make some money. The question is: Do I want to?

Do I want to make money? Well, duh. But it’ll take an effort I’m not sure I want to make.

When I do a project book I make a lot – these books generally have at least 24 projects – and when they’re done I always end up with too much stuff. Most I use here in the house, or give away to family and friends. But other stuff tends to just hang around: Too nice to toss; too much of a hassle to sell one-off stuff. In the case with my two Civil War books, because I’m into Civil War things I have even less ambition to get rid of leftovers.

But I’m contemplating a big purchase and some extra cash would be good, so I posted a few items on a Civil War Facebook group. Imagine my surprise when I sold pretty much everything quickly. One item – a reproduction of an officer’s shaving box – sold in 90 seconds. Yes, you read that right. Less than two minutes after posting it, I got a request to buy it.

But before the guy could PayPal me the cash and I could mark it sold, I got 10 more requests to buy the darned thing. Since marking it sold, I’ve gotten another half dozed inquiries about making them. Contacting all the interested parties to thank them, I casually mentioned that I might consider a small run of them. To a person, every single one of them wants one.

Although I’ve considered making small runs of items for sale before I’ve always decided against it, concerned with juggling a production run with all the other stuff I’m doing, the time and hassle of it all, especially being uncertain if there’d even be a demand.

But now, a demand has popped up where and when I least expected it. In fact, the demand aspect isn’t even a question – if I wanted to do a run of a dozen or so of these it looks like I could sell them effortlessly.

A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.